The broadcasting of sports events is the coverage of sports as a television program, on radio and other broadcasting media. It usually involves one or more sports commentators describing the events as they happen.
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In 1911, more than 1,000 people gathered in downtown Lawrence, Kansas to watch a mechanical reproduction of the 1911 Kansas vs. Missouri football game while it was being played. A Western Union telegraph wire was set up direct from Columbia, Missouri. A group of people then would announce the results of the previous play and used a large model of a football playing field to show the results. Those in attendance cheered as though they were watching the game live, including the school's legendary Rock Chalk, Jayhawk cheer.[1]
The first voice broadcast of a sporting event took place on 11 April 1921 when Westinghouse station KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania broadcast a 10-round, no decision boxing match between Johnny Dundee and Johnny Ray at Pittsburgh’s Motor Square Garden.[2] Prior to that, an experimental telegraph broadcast of the 1919 Lone Star Showdown was held on Thanksgiving Day of that year on experimental station 5XB, the predecessor of WTAW.[3]
The first radio broadcast of a baseball game occurred on 5 August 1921 over KDKA from Pittsburgh's Forbes Field. Harold W. Arlin announced a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies. Two months later, on October 8, 1921, from the same Forbes Field, Arlin announced the first live radio broadcast of a college football game on KDKA when he gave the play-by-play action of the University of Pittsburgh victory over West Virginia University.
On May 17, 1939, the United States' first televised sporting event, a college baseball game between the Columbia Lions and Princeton Tigers, was broadcast by NBC from Columbia's Baker Field.[4][5] (The world's first live televised sporting event had been the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.[6]) On September 30, 1939, the first American football game, a college contest between Fordham and Waynesburg College was broadcast on television.[7] The broadcasting of college football games on television in the United States has been a fixture of the major networks on a continuous basis since that time.
NBC broadcast the first televised National Football League (NFL) game when they carried the 22 October 1939 game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Brooklyn Dodgers. The same year, the first nationwide radio broadcast of an NFL championship game was carried on the Mutual Broadcasting System. While the NFL had weak television deals that ranked behind college football and even the Canadian Football League in the 1950s, the broadcast rights of the NFL would go on to become an important property following the 1958 NFL Championship and the later establishment of the American Football League in 1960. Monday Night Football , NFL on Fox, and NBC Sunday Night Football have changed the landscape of American football broadcasts, including the scheduling of the Super Bowl, transforming it into a primetime spectacle from an afternoon broadcast. The price for the NFL's broadcast rights has increased steadily over the past several decades, in part because of bidding wars between the numerous networks and the fear of losing stature due to the loss of NFL programming; as of the most recent contract the league nets annual fees of over $5 billion, or half of the league's overall revenue, from television rights alone. Four of the five major sports television units in the United States, and the four companies that control all of the major broadcast networks, currently own some NFL rights.
NBC also broadcast an NHL game in 1940; the league would briefly air games in the 1950s, but due to a dispute over how much of the rights fee money the players would receive, the NHL refused to televise its games in the United States for six years in the 1960s. For this reason, as well as the regional nature of the sport, televised NHL games have struggled to gain a foothold on American television for the past several decades, trailing the other leagues in ratings. After several decades of bouncing around various networks, the NHL established a stable broadcast partner in 2004, when NBC and Versus took over NHL broadcast rights, having since renewed those rights through 2021.
Professional basketball has been aired on television since 1953, shortly after the founding of the National Basketball Association, and has been aired on television ever since. College basketball, on the other hand, was much later in gaining a television foothold. Although the NCAA Tournament has aired since 1962, it was not until the mid-1970s that regular-season college basketball games would air on major network television.
The first sports event broadcast in the United Kingdom was a Rugby Union international between England and Wales, broadcast from Twickenham in January 1927. Two weeks later the first broadcast of a football match took place, with the BBC covering Arsenal's league fixture against Sheffield United at Highbury. Listeners to the broadcast could use numbered grids published in the Radio Times in order to ascertain in which area of the pitch the action was taking place due to a second commentator reading out grid references during the match.[8]
The United Kingdom saw the first live television broadcast of a football match, with the BBC showing a specially arranged fixture between Arsenal and Arsenal Reserves on 16 September 1937.[9]
Broadcasting of sports started with descriptions of play sent via telegraph in the 1890s. In 1896, a telegraph line was connected to the Victoria Rink in Montreal to update fans in Winnipeg of the Stanley Cup challenge series between Montreal and Winnipeg ice hockey teams. In 1923, the first radio broadcast of an ice hockey game took place on February 8, with the broadcast of the third period of a game between Midland and North Toronto of the Ontario Hockey Association.[10] Later that month, the first full-game broadcast took place in Winnipeg, Manitoba. That same season, hockey broadcasting pioneer Foster Hewitt made his first broadcast.[11]
In 1933, Hewitt called a Canada-wide radio broadcast of an NHL game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Always starting the broadcast with "Hello, Canada, and hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland!"; this phrase stuck around (albeit without the "Newfoundland" portion after the dominion confederated into Canada in 1949) all the way to CBC's first national television broadcast (the first actual broadcast was on closed-circuit in Maple Leaf Gardens in Spring 1952) of Hockey Night in Canada in October 1952. Today it is consistently among the highest-rated programs in Canada.
Broadcasting of the Canadian Football League has been a fixture of Canadian television since the CBC's debut in 1952. From 1962 (one year after the debut of CTV) through 2007, there were two separate CFL contracts: one for CBC, and one for CTV (or a sister channel such as cable outlet TSN). Terrestrial television broadcasts of CFL games ended in 2008, when TSN acquired exclusive TV rights to the league.
Broadcasting rights and contracts limit who can show footage of the event.
In the United Kingdom BSkyB based its early marketing largely on its acquisition of the broadcast rights of the top division of the English league football, which as part of the deal with The Football Association broke away from The Football League to become the FA Premier League. This prevented the footage of any major Premiership football game being shown on free-to-air television until much later that evening (as highlights), something the European Commission were very unhappy about. Following warnings of legal action to stop the monopoly, an announcement was made that an alternative structure would be in place when the current contracts end in 2007. [1]
In the United States, sports are broadcast by networks usually only in "game of the week" or championship situations, except for the NFL (see NFL on television). Other sports are broadcast by sports channels, and are limited by who can view them based on various rules set by the leagues themselves, resulting in blackouts. These limitations can be legally overlooked by purchasing out-of-market sports packages, such as MLB Extra Innings or NFL Sunday Ticket. Regular season games involving local teams (except the NFL) may also be viewed on those local stations or regional sports channels that have a contract to broadcast that team's games.
TV Rights of the UEFA Champions League, per country. Season 2009-2010, according to footbiz
In the UK, the regulations set out in the Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed & Designated Events dictate that some sporting events must have coverage made available to free-to-air channels. "Category A" events, including the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup and Cricket World Cup should be available live, while "Category B" events such as all test cricket played in England and the Commonwealth Games should be available as highlights or with a short delay.
A similar concept applies in Italy and Australia to some important sport events.
The sporting event with the largest worldwide audience is the FIFA World Cup. Other events that have been described as "the most watched" per various definitions include the Summer Olympic Games, Cricket World Cup, UEFA Champions League, Tour de France, Rugby World Cup (rugby union), Indian Premier League, Super Bowl, and the FIA Formula One World Championship.
The British media is dominated by national outlets, with local media playing a much smaller role. Traditionally the BBC played a dominant role in televising sport, providing extensive high-quality advertisement free coverage and free publicity in exchange for being granted broadcast rights for low fees. ITV broadcast a smaller portfolio of events, and Channel 4 broadcast a few events from the 1980s, mainly horse races and so-called minority sports. In the early 1990s this arrangement was shaken up by the arrival of pay-TV in the form of BSkyB. Their dedicated sports channels have since become the only place for some major sports to be seen. Starting in 2006 the Irish company Setanta Sports emerged as a challenger to Sky Sports' dominance of the British pay-TV sports market; however, Setanta's UK channel went into bankruptcy administration and off the air in 2009. There is also a dedicated UK-version of Eurosport, called British Eurosport, as well as a dedicated UK version of ESPN.
Radio sports coverage is also important. The BBC's Radio Five Live broadcasts almost all major sports events. It now has a commercial rival called talkSPORT, but this has not acquired anywhere near as many exclusive contracts as Sky Sports and dedicates much of its airtime to sports discussions and phone-ins. BBC Local Radio also provides extensive coverage of sport, giving more exposure to second-tier clubs which get limited national coverage.
Sports on television ranges through many channels including BBC1, ITV, SkySports and SkySportsHD. Football and rugby are most popular.
In the United States, national and local media both serve major roles in sports broadcasting. Depending on the league and event, telecasts are often shown on network television (traditionally on weekends and during major events — either national through a Television network, or in some cases, regionally syndicated by an operation such as Raycom Sports or a team), and nationally available cable channels (such as ESPN, one of the first national sports channels). In some leagues (such as the NHL and the NBA), events are also primarily shown by regional sports networks groups (such as Fox Sports Net), networks which air telecasts for teams of local interest, which are usually only carried within the relevant market. Additionally, cable channels also exist that are dedicated to specific types of sports, certain College sports conferences, or a specific league.
There are sports channels that show sporting events, sports news, and various sport-related programming.[12]
In the United States the cable channel ESPN is by far the largest dedicated sports channel. It has spawned ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, and ESPN3.com the four networks broadcast a wide variety of sporting events, ranging from major sports playoffs to lumberjack contests and poker.
ESPN has even been the namesake of several children as documented in this BBC article
Several regional sports channels offer lower-profile content. Examples include Fox Sports Network and Comcast SportsNet.
CBS College Sports Network, ESPNU and Fox College Sports broadcast collegiate (university) sporting events with smaller audiences that have heretofore been largely absent from national television.
With the growing number of 'niche' channels on the U.S. television landscape, a swarm of channels have sprung up that focus heavily or exclusively on one sport:
Some of the world's largest sports clubs have their own channels, or own shares in other sports networks. Examples include Yankees Entertainment and Sports and Manchester United TV. An example of the latter, the Boston Red Sox own a majority stake of the regional New England Sports Network which retains the New England area television broadcast rights for the majority of Red Sox games (except for the few which are carried nationally on Fox or ESPN and playoff games). The New York Mets own SportsNet New York jointly with Comcast and Time Warner Cable, and Madison Square Garden has its own network as well, where they broadcast original shows, New York Rangers, New York Knicks, and high school basketball games. In addition, the Big Ten Network is dedicated to airing teams from different collegiate sports in the Big Ten Conference, which holds joint ownership in the channel with Fox.
The most widely known networks under common ownership of a sports team are the ones owned by Comcast, which, through its subsidiary Spectacor, owns the Philadelphia Flyers and Philadelphia 76ers, and also owns numerous television outlets, including NBC Sports and Versus, which is to be renamed NBC Sports Network in January 2012. Because NBC and Versus hold the exclusive national broadcast rights to the NHL through 2021, they have used these rights to promote the Flyers, with the team generally getting the most game coverage of any of the NHL's twenty-three American teams in the networks' NHL coverage. (No Comcast properties own any national rights to the NBA.)